Department of Microbiology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
J Bacteriol. 2022 Apr 19;204(4):e0062821. doi: 10.1128/jb.00628-21. Epub 2022 Mar 16.
Proteolysis is essential throughout life, and as more proteases are characterized, our understanding of the roles they play continues to expand. Among other things, proteases are critical for protein turnover and quality control, the activation or inactivation of some enzymes, and they are integral components of signal transduction pathways. This review focuses on a family of proteases in bacteria known as the carboxyl-terminal processing proteases, or CTPs. Members of this family occur in all domains of life. In bacteria, CTPs have emerged as important enzymes that have been implicated in critical processes including regulation, stress response, peptidoglycan remodeling, and virulence. Here, we provide an overview of the roles that CTPs play in diverse bacterial species, and some of the underlying mechanisms. We also describe the structures of some bacterial CTPs, and their adaptor proteins, which have revealed striking differences in arrangements and mechanisms of action. Finally, we discuss what little is known about the distinguishing features of CTP substrates and cleavage sites, and speculate about how CTP activities might be regulated in the bacterial cell. Compared with many other proteases, the study of bacterial CTPs is still in its infancy, but it has now become clear that they affect fundamental processes in many different species. This is a protease family with broad significance, and one that holds the promise of more high impact discoveries to come.
蛋白质水解在整个生命过程中都是必不可少的，随着越来越多的蛋白酶被鉴定出来，我们对它们所起作用的理解也在不断扩展。除其他作用外，蛋白酶对于蛋白质的周转和质量控制、某些酶的激活或失活，以及信号转导途径的组成部分都至关重要。本综述重点介绍了一类存在于所有生命领域的细菌蛋白酶，即羧基末端加工蛋白酶（CTP）。该家族的成员存在于所有生命领域。在细菌中，CTP 已成为重要的酶，与包括调控、应激反应、肽聚糖重塑和毒力在内的关键过程有关。在这里，我们概述了 CTP 在不同细菌物种中所扮演的角色及其潜在机制。我们还描述了一些细菌 CTP 及其衔接蛋白的结构，这些结构揭示了它们在排列和作用机制上的显著差异。最后，我们讨论了有关 CTP 底物和切割位点的区别特征的一些鲜为人知的信息，并推测了 CTP 活性在细菌细胞中是如何被调控的。与许多其他蛋白酶相比，细菌 CTP 的研究仍处于起步阶段，但现在已经清楚的是，它们影响着许多不同物种的基本过程。这是一个具有广泛意义的蛋白酶家族，有望带来更多具有高影响力的发现。
